Weekend Box Office November 17-19, 2017

(KUTV) Following the success, both critically and financially, of “Wonder Woman,” it appeared that the DC Extended Universe might finally be on solid ground.

Not so fast Warner Bros.

“Justice League,” the DC Comics equivalent of “Marvel’s The Avengers,” opened to a shocking $96 million this weekend. That’s $15-20 million less than conservative predictions and $70 million less than what "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” opened to in 2016. Wonder Woman on her own opened to $103 million earlier this year on its way to a worldwide total of $821 million.

Two weeks ago Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok” opened to $122 million. The combined draw of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman couldn’t even come close to the numbers that Thor, Loki and the Incredible Hulk were able to pull. That’s a major problem no matter how you try to spin it.

The silver lining for Warner Bros. is that “Justice League” performed well overseas where it brought in $185 million. It was particularly strong in China where its weekend total was $51 million. Worldwide “Justice League” has earned $281 million, but it has been suggested that the film will need to pass $600 million before we can even start talking about the film breaking even.

In second place this weekend was “Wonder,” the uplifting family film from director Stephen Chbosky and actors Julia Roberts and Jacob Tremblay, with $27 million. Based on R. J. Palacio’s novel, “Wonder” tells the story of a young boy with a facial deformity who attends public school for the first time. Most predictions had the film finishing the weekend in the area of $15 million.

“Thor: Ragnarok” finds itself in third place with $21 million for the weekend and has a worldwide total of $738 million.